Environment of the
Fitzner/Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve
| WHERE: | The Fitzner/Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve (ALE) is within The Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge on The Hanford Reach National Monument in South-central Washington State in the Columbia Basin semi-arid desert. |
| WHO: | The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) received stewardship of the land from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2000. Please visit the official website and learn more about the reserve or contact their local office in Richland at (509) 371-1801. More information is available from the Public Lands Information Center. |
| HOW: | The ALE reserve remains closed to general public access. Its use is currently limited to research/education activities approved through the DOE, FWS, and/or DOE contractors. Examples include National Science Foundation funded research at the Gravitation Physics Laboratory (Nike site) and prior to 2009, the privately operated Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory. All research done at this site is passive in nature and is performed with the utmost integrity and respect for the environment and the original inhabitants. |
| WHAT: | Here is a general fact sheet from August 2002 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. |
boundary sign, flox, lupine, daisies, flox, welcome
sign
hawk and magpie,
stags, porcupine, deer, coyote
grasshopper, beehive,
spider, black insect, green insect
looking down
from rattlesnake mountain, cloud-shrouded, spring green, frozen tumbleweeds and
deer, yellow and dry seasons
two rattlesnakes, winter snow, spring flowers, erratic
granite exposed by fire
